At a Vision Planning Community meeting on August 30
Vintondale AMD (acid mine drainage) and Art was introduced to Vision
Planning Workshops set to look into the future of Vintondale Borough.
The first workshop, called Issues & Opportunities, was held September
6. Vintondale past and present and the best of Vintondale now were topics
considered, along with issues and concerns, opportunities and resources,
vision and goals. Participants were asked to mark their favorite places
on a large-scale map and work with neighbors, family, and friends to
list current issues and concerns, examining their vision for Vintondale
20, 30, and 40 years from now.

Photos and articles about community events are being
collected along with old photos of buildings and street scenes. Residents
are being asked to note favorite childhood and high school hangouts,
family gathering places and activities, community traditions they have
enjoyed and valued.

Vision Planning is a way of thinking about the
future and managing change. Vision planning workshops and activities
are organized to identify opportunities for economic growth that is
sensitive to the traditions, quality of life, and environmental quality
of a community, an announcement for the first workshop said. The
expected results of Vision Planning workshops are project and policy
documents that will support funding request and development guidelines
specific to the needs of the community.

For the second Vision Planning Workshop, scheduled for
October 2, the AMD&ART staff will prepare a preliminary set of drawings
and documents based on the information gathered in Workshop 1. Workshop
activities at that meeting will ask residents to compare ideas, point
out strengths and weaknesses, suggest changes, and list priorities.
Participants will be asked to develop a preliminary set of indicators
to measure progress toward the future they envision.

A third workshop is planned to consider the feedback
from Workshop 2, date as yet to be announced. The staff will prepare
revised drawings and documents at that time, and small groups will be
formed to review the revisions and suggest further changes. Residents
will be asked to sign up to continue work on one or more specific projects.
Project groups will be formed and strategies for implementation will
begin.

Vintondale's AMD&ART acid mine drainage project
was awarded a $50,000 grant last year by the Vera Heinz Endowment Foundation
to abate acid mine drainage along the south branch of Blacklick Creek
and promote community beautification. The Heinz grant was earmarked
to pay for a litmus garden, which will be a series of trees along the
ponds that cleanse the water of acidity. The color of the trees will
gradually progress from red-orange to green-blue, to reflect the change
in water quality from acidic to clean.

AMD&ART is a nonprofit environmental group organized
to work for remedying acid mine drainage from abandoned mines. The organization
designs treatment systems as community parks that can be used for recreation
and education. The Vintondale project will include a new baseball field,
soccer fields, horseshoe pits, and walking trails. The project is part
of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protectionís comprehensive
plan for abandoned mine reclamation for the south branch of Blacklick
Creek. Project coordinators project completion of the program by this
winter.

For more information, call AMD&ART at 814 539-5357
or e-mail amdart@gte.net.